ABYSSINIA.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 14, 17 January 1931, Page 1 (Supplement)

ABYSSINIA.

OLDEST INDEPENDENT STATE

CRADLE OF CHRISTIANITY.

(By LADY DRUMMOND-HAY.)

Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, of which Ras Tafari is now the, duly annointed ruler, is the oldest free and independent State in the world. It is the only really completely sovereign independent nation in Africa to-day. .That independence has a history-'of about 3200 years.

In area twice the size of Germany, with almost unexploited resources, Abyssinia has not unnaturally attracted the ambitious and enterprising throughout the centuries, and' in more modern times, offering a.standing temptation to the three Powers dominant in Africa — Great Britain,' France and Italy. Only once was the independence of Ethiopia challenged seriously—by the Italians, who suffered overwhelming defeat", and were thereby forced to recognise the absolute independence of Abyssinia in 1891), since when 110 other nation has attempted to repeat the experiment.

In sharp contrast to the country itself, in many aspects 500 years behind the times, Has Tafari Makoniien, "King 'of Kings" and' Emperors, his Queen Waziru Menin, and a number of their Ethiopian entourage are Western educated and as modern-minded as any European Court. Their daughter was educated at Lausanne, and at a school in Cheshire, England. Ras Tafari follows the example of the late Emperor Menelik, who inaugurated in Abyssinia the policy of granting valuable concessions to foreign countries, which have helped considerably to open up this black empire. Ethiopia i& tlie world's cradle of Christianity, and is the oldest Christian nation in the world. The religion is Coptic Christianity, headed by a Patriarch, who is sought from Egypt.

Tliere has long been a feeling in Egypt that political alliance between Egypt and Ethiopia would be a great diplomatic stroke, and of incalculable strategic value. The Ethiopians are brave warriors and excellent lighters. .The nation consists of-four main tribes, of which the Amharas are in the bulk, and the dominating race. They are supposed originally to be of, Semitic extraction. A French archaeologist has advanced the theory that ancient Egyptian civilisation came from Ethiopia. The ancient city of Axum, for many centuries the capital, is comparable in archaeological interest to Ur, Jerusalem, Thebes and Memphis. Degrees of civilisation in Abyssinia vary from beautiful, almost modern Dire-Dauoa, to unexplored corners where tlie tribes are still wild and savage, and where no white man has yet penetrated. An explorer told me in Cairo that there is one tribe which lives from, drinking the blood of wild animals. Of extraordinary interest are the "Cavern Churches" at Lalibella, 1200 years before Christ. They were built by hollowing out the vast volcanic cliffs in that region. The largest is a veritable cathedral cut in the cliffs, and since the Christian era has' been called the "World Redeemer Church" or the "Church of the World Redeemer." 1